The "Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025" amends the Social Security Act to require states to develop family partnership plans and report on foster and adoptive families. The family partnership plan should involve various stakeholders, including families and youth in foster care. It also mandates the use of data to improve foster family recruitment, support, and retention. States must collect and report on the capacity of foster families and congregate care usage, as well as feedback from foster and adoptive parents. The Act also requires the inclusion of information on foster and adoptive families in the annual child welfare outcomes report to Congress. The effective date for these amendments is October 1, 2027, with potential delays for states requiring legislative changes.
Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2025
This bill requires state plans for child welfare services to provide for the development and implementation of a family partnership plan to improve foster care placement stability, increase rates of kinship placements, and align the composition of foster and adoptive families with the needs of children in or entering foster care.
The Children's Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families also must include in its annual report information from states about the number, demographics, and characteristics of foster and adoptive families as well as a summary of the challenges related to recruiting and being foster or adoptive parents.